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Women in STEM fields are not exceptions

Mind you, it’s all my fault. I took the liberty of reading some anti-feminist blogs and read some comments that made my rage boil over.

Basically, the comments went something like this:

Men and women have different brains. Men are better suited to science and technology, while women largely choose psychology, humanities, and “empathy” (apparently this is a subject.) While there are “exceptions”, there is no need to encourage women in STEM fields and force them to do something they don’t want to do.

I’m not going to link to any of the original blogs because I don’t want shitty traffic coming here. But GHAAARRRRGHH!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the thing: these male chauvinists use pseudo-science to justify why women just ‘naturally’ choose the softer, lesser skilled subjects that will pay less while men choose more lucrative fields. Also, they’re wrong.

Currently, there are more women than men with PhDs in the biological sciences. Medical school enrollment is roughly 50/50 in gender distribution, and women are drastically catching up in other fields – notably chemistry, civil engineering, and environmental engineering (my field!)

Now that more women are entering higher education and/or professional fields, it makes sense that more and more women are also entering STEM fields. Three of my friends have undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and are currently in medical school. I am going for my doctorate in environmental engineering, one female friend in civil engineering, and one in electrical engineering.

Not to mention that there are plenty of men who also pursue liberal arts degrees, such as history, psychology, political science, and business. It’s just a matter of choice. Male chauvinists try to gender subjects based on how brains are “wired” (and I wonder how they know so well how brains work?) and conveniently assign women the lesser-skilled subjects. In my opinion, there aren’t enough people in STEM, period. A lot of people go for arts degrees because they are easier to get.

So in conclusion, I am a woman, who likes science, along with other women, who like science, who are not exceptions to their biological sex by liking science, and I’M DAMN PROUD.